Our Family

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

I've been tagged, so here is everything you never wanted to know about: KENDALL I also decided to incorporate a few pictures, old and new. They may or may not have anything to do with the question, but will hopefully make the post more interesting to you. Enjoy!
1. Where did you meet? As wall flowers at the Lehi High School Pajama Jam. Both our dates kept leaving us. (Picture: Our first date)
2. How long did you date before you got married? 4 years

3. How long have you been married? 5 years 4 months (Picture: Our wedding day)
4. What does he do that surprises you? Kendall is very unpredictable, so he is constantly coming up with new ways of surprising me. I expect unpredictability, but after 9 years of being together he still does random but sweet things. He likes to tease and scare me, jump out from behind a door and grab me, carry me down the hall in the fireman's hold and throw me on the bed, or get up early in the morning to wash the dishes. Things like that. (Picture: Us in high school)
5. What is your favorite feature of his? His hands. I love how strong they are, yet gentle, too. His strength is always surprising, but he's so careful with things too. And they aren't rough and yucky, but not too soft to be a man's. They are just right. (Picture: Kendall's gentle side with Mercedes)
6. What is your favorite quality of his? This one is tough. I love what a hard worker he is, and how concentrated he is. He can fix anything but a broken heart (yet he still tries to fix that too) and he is really well-rounded. He's a people person, a really great listener and the best friend that I've ever had. I love everything about him.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? My newest nickname is Bunny. He started calling me that when we found out that we were having Mercedes.

8. What is his favorite color? Chrome. He's not a Narcissist, but he does like shiny things that he can see himself in.

9. What is his favorite food? Steak, jello, beef jerky (homemade), sherbet, avocados and raspberries. I don't know about one favorite. (Picture: Senior homecoming)
10. What is his favorite sport? Ultimate Frisbee (he swears it is a sport)

11. When and where was your first kiss? On my front porch with all of our friends waiting in the car. It was our second dance, and we'd been together about a month. It was December 8th, 1999 and my whole family was downstairs watching a movie, luckily, or they probably would have been in the living room watching. (Picture: Christmas Dance when we first kissed)
12. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? We love going roller blading, but I'm a super chicken so I have to have a flat trail to blade on. But we love long roller blading trips where we can talk for hours. We also love to watch movies, sit in the hot tub and just generally spend quiet uninterrupted time together (like that ever happens!).

13. Do you have any children? Three. Hence, the non-quiet, non-uninterrupted time together. (Picture: Avrianna (2 1/2) Talmage (16 months) Mercedes (1 month)
14. Does he have a hidden talent? He does a pretty mean whistling belly button. Actually, whistling all together, he has about a dozen or so ways that he knows how to whistle. It is really funny. (Picture: Kendall using his Twister skills)15. How old is he? 25 2/3

16. Who said I love you first? I'm not actually sure. I wonder if he remembers.

17. What's his favorite type of music? He enjoys listening to a Capella, especially funny stuff. He also likes country, and the stuff that was considered popular when we were in high school, it brings back good memories.

18. What do you admire most about him? I agree with Kendra on this one. Kendall is such a dedicated husband and father, doing whatever it takes to be wonderful at both. (Picture: Kendall with the kids)
19. Do you think he will read this? Probably not, unless I read it to him or sit him down and show him what I wrote.

Monday, September 22, 2008

First, I'm a total dork! I didn't think that I had gotten any comments on any of my posts. Come to find out, I had unintentionally changed some setting, and they were all just waiting for me to approve them. DUH! So sorry about that.

Second, I went to the doctor today to get my IUD out and they can't find it! They think it might have just fallen out or something! So, I guess I don't really have to worry about it, but it is a little unsettling since I would think that I would have noticed it falling out. Oh well.

Third, today was not a very good day, but I'm counting my blessings. I woke up around 4:00 am with a fever and my whole body hurt and I couldn't even swallow. My fever kinda came and went all day, so I was hot then cold then hot again. Talmage also woke up with a fever and Avri has a bad cough today, so we weren't having much fun. The up side is that Kendall had planned to take the afternoon off for me to go to the doctor, so he came home early (around 10:00) and just took care of all of us and washed the dishes and did the Mr. Mom thing today. A big thank you to Kendall, my fantastic husband!

And I guess I should put some pics on here, since what fun is a post without pictures? These are from last week's FHE to Apple Blossom Farm, a u-pick apple farm. We all had a blast!

The very best part was this huge slide that they had. We all went down it numerous times and the kids had fun going down backward, forward, on their bellies, sideways, and every other way.

4. How does your mom make you laugh? By sharing the toys and playing with Mercedes like this "clicks tongue"

5. What was your mom like as a child? Talmage and Avri and Mercedes

6. How old is your mom? Twenty five

7. How tall is your mom? 30 inches

8. What is her favorite thing to do? Play games with Mercedes and Talmage and Avri.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Play at her house

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Not good

11. What is your mom really good at? Taking care of her kids

12. What is your mom not so good at? Not taking turns

13. What does your mom do for her job? Take care of her kids

14. What is your mom's favorite food? Grapes and chicken and pressed apples

15. What makes your mom proud? When I take care of my brother and my sister

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Alvin and the Chipmunks

17. What do you and your mom do together? Play games

18. How are you and your mom the same? Challenger 1 (I'm as clueless about this as you)

19. How are you and your mom different? Challenger 3

20. How do you know your mom loves you? She kisses me!

I now challenge anyone who still actually reads my blog to post this to theirs (that is if you have a child who could respond). I don't know if anyone still reads it or not since I don't get comments, but hopefully when I make these posts it is not just for my own personal enjoyment.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

As you are all well aware, I am a HUGE fan of Signing Time. I started buying the series when Avri was super tiny, and now all 3 of my kids have spent their entire lives singing and signing along to these shows. They are GREAT! So here is a little plug. They are releasing two new Baby Signing Time movies. I am including their previews. One cool thing is that in our new ward we have a family who has two deaf children. We usually sit behind them in sacrament meeting and my kids (and me too) LOVE watching their mom translate everything for them, and I feel like it has helped my kids understand a little more about why people sign. We are able to talk to them, and the daughter actually babysits, so Avri can't wait to have her come babysit sometime so she can teach her more signs. Anyway, enough of my ranting, here are the previews.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

So we decided to start Mercedes on Rice Cereal. Here are some pictures of how it went:

A picture is worth a thousand words. She HATED it! And a week and a half later she is finally no longer gagging on every bite, but we still haven't comvinced her that she likes it. Talmage was SO OPPOSITE!! Kids come the way they come.

Monday, September 8, 2008

We were looking at our friend Mark's blog and he posted a very cool beat boxing video that got us looking at funny You Tube videos. Here are two other videos that we found entertaining. They are both dance, but in a slightly different way, especially the second one. The first one though, if you are bored at the beginning, just hang in there because it brings back some very funny memories.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Sadi is starting to be quite interested in everything that goes into our mouths now, and she wants to try too! Trying to get used to a spoon.Talmage was helping Daddy set up the garage. When I went out, he had a wrench and told me "I workin' HARD!" He was so cute, I had to get a picture. Of course, you can't take a picture without Avri in it. The deer that eat out of our back yard. This picture was taken from the kitchen through the sliding doors and over the deck railing. But funny story, a couple days later, on Labor Day, I went outside through the downstairs back door to look for Kendall and they were standing like 30 feet away from me just staring at me! I think deer are some of God's most beautiful creations. They are right up there with Tigers.I think she looks like trouble in this picture. She has so much personality. Help?!? Mom, what were you thinking letting Avri hold me?

It's potty time!! Talmage has gone to the bathroom in his potty three times now!! Yay! But I still think we are quite a ways away from being "trained." Sadi was so relaxed with her Dad she just couldn't help falling asleep.

Mercedes is an early mover, just like Avri was. I put her on the floor the other day and she rolled over like she always does. Well then she saw something that she wanted (Dad's lunch) and so she rolled again so that she could reach it. I pulled it away and so she found something else - the electrical outlet. She used her feet to scoot back the 6 or so inches that she needed to be able to reach it! This all in about 1 1/2 minutes. Time to baby proof the house, again! This is a picture of where she got to. I put her way over by the railing on the carpet, but right next to the wood flooring, so that is how far she got. And she was pretty proud of herself, too! Isn't she a cutie!?! I sure think so!

My wonderful Hubby brought me 2 dozen roses a couple weeks back and they ended up being the most beautiful roses that I had ever seen!! And they were my favorite color, too. I thought you might want to enjoy them, even though they were much more beautiful in real life!

I love sleeping children. I can't resist taking pictures of them. But this picture just made me think about all of the love that my children receive from their grandparents. Avri is sleeping in the bed that G&G Dietz gave to her with the comforter set that she loves from G&G Powell, while holding the laptop that G&G Dietz gave her for her birthday. I couldn't help but think about how she was literally surrounded by love from her grandparents. Thanks for all the love!

Yesterday was just one of those days. The kind where your kids (all 3 of them) wake up crying at 5:30 in the morning instead of their normal 7:00. Then you get out of bed and realize that you can't even walk because you did something strange to your knee and it's so swollen it won't bend. Then you pick up one of your children to comfort them and realize that your wrist is also hurting a great deal (maybe the same mysterious thing that you did to your knee). Your head hurts from exhaustion and everyone is so wound up that there is no way they are going to sleep. Then you go to pay your bills only to find that you can't find your checkbook anywhere! So, load everyone into the van because the mortgage is already past due and drive to the bank. Everyone looks like rag-a-muffins and act like you haven't ever given them a rule in their life, running this way and that and asking for candy. Then you remember that you forgot to take your birth control pill. So you go to take it and it falls to the floor. Despite looking everywhere you can't find that tiny green pill. Most likely one of the children will find it later, but you can't end up with another child right now, so you better take another one. The day continues in this manner until nap time. Luckily you are able to get all three kids to sleep at the same time. They are all exhausted from being awake so early. At the end of this very short nap time you go to get one of them out of his bedroom and you can smell the mess from down the hall. As you open the door you find lovely brown smears all over the bed and the large stuffed penguin laying on the bed. The smell is enough to keep the flies away, yet you know it must be cleaned up. You remember a book that was, at one time when you were a child, your favorite book. So you decide to be a good mom and read it to your children. After your third interruption the children decide that they aren't too interested in it anymore. So instead of the entire chapter in the scriptures, you read one single verse and put the kids to bed half an hour early. Whew! Thank goodness for good days and the distance between days like yesterday!!